Have Democrats Failed the White Working Class?
You can see this convergence in another trend Cherlin describes, the transition, beginning in the 1960s, of younger adults from what he calls a “utilitarian self” to an “expressive self.” The utilitarian self, according to Cherlin, accepts “conformity to external standards — which included doing what your supervisor at work told you to do.” This conformity was essential for industrial work, “which required self-discipline and the suppression of feelings such as alienation and anger.”
The expressive self, in contrast, “emphasizes one’s feelings and emotional satisfaction and the pursuit of a personally fulfilling life.” For the less educated, however, the kind of low-skill, low-wage jobs available to them offered little or no opportunity for self-expression.
The expressive self has been a central element of postmodern liberal thinking.
.. McLanahan and Jencks provide data showing that growing up with one parent reduces chances of graduating high school by 40 percent and that father-absence “increases antisocial behavior, such as aggression, rule breaking, delinquency, and illegal drug use.”
.. The breakdown of working-class families, then, and the adverse consequences flowing from that breakdown, occurred simultaneously with the collapse of working-class jobs that provided decent incomes to those without college degrees.
.. I would argue that it’s not just a question of new programs “that would buy the loyalty of the middle class for another generation.”